BENGALURU: Ministry of Commerce and Industry has appointed Rohan Shah, a practicing counsel at the Supreme Court, as India’s Representative and Governor on the board of Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (“ERIA”).
The appointment is for a period of three years. The Board of ERIA meets once in every six months in Jakarta and then in Japan.
ERIA, formed by the Governments of the ASEAN countries, is engaged in research and guidance on policy formulation related to economic integration, cross border trade issues and narrowing development gaps in the ASEAN region.
Each of the 17 members of the ASEAN appoints a Governor to the ERIA board which usually includes Ministers, ex-Ministers and senior industry leaders. India’s previous nominees as Governor have included Ratan Tata, Rajiv Kumar (currently Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog) and economist Ajit Ranade.
The role of ERIA is of particular importance to India in relation to various regional FTAs and RTAs particularly the Indo-ASEAN FTA, as also in the context of the recent Indian engagements in RCEP negotiation, according to a press release.
Shah is a practicing counsel at the Supreme Court and in various High Courts specialising in tax, trade and other corporate issues. He had previously been associated with India’s WTO trade negotiations as an Industry Representative, including, with Arun Jaitley (the then Minister of Commerce) at Cancún in 2003.
Source: Economic Times
